The man who showed us all the true threat in the Arctic

Blogpost by John Novis, Head of Photography, Greenpeace Int'l - 27 September, 2013 at 16:0310 comments

A photo is key when it comes to bearing witness and Greenpeace has been a leading organization in visuals for over forty years. We go to the frontline of environmental issues to see for ourselves what is happening so that we can show others.

The marriage between Greenpeace’s campaign knowledge and resources (that include its iconic ships) and world-class freelance photographers has led to many important – and previously untold - stories coming into the public domain.

At Greenpeace International, we have a talent pool of twenty world-class freelance photographers. Denis cemented his spot in this group with his work last year during the Prirazlomnaya action. He was a true journalist – filing on time despite the challenges of working on a ship in the choppy, icy Arctic waters. Well liked among the Greenpeace International crew and activists on board, he showed himself to be a tough and tenacious freelancer. This has been echoed in, what I see, as his clarity of mind in the Murmansk court yesterday. He is a journalist and he will continue to be a journalist.

Freelance photographers who have in the past been commissioned by Greenpeace International have gone on to win top industry awards. Nick Cobbing won a World Press Photo award for his Scientists in the Arctic feature, as did Paul Hilton for his shark fin picture and Daniel Beltrá for his Amazon drought and deforestation images.

All three won their awards for the Nature and Environment section, but there is an even more prestigious World Press Photo category – the Spot News Award. Greenpeace-commissioned freelance photographer Lu Guang won this coveted prize in 2010 for his pictures of an oil spill caused by a pipeline blast at the Dalian Port in China.

This image Denis took on September 18th 2013 that many of us have seen in the papers or online is striking, exposing the oil industry for what it truly is. This photograph is a testament to his professionalism, skill and journalistic nature.

In my professional opinion, as Head of Photography for Greenpeace International, it is powerful because it is a picture of a threat in a bizarre environment; we’ve all seen photos of guns in the context of a conflict or in a blurred CCTV screen grab, but his image is from the waters of the Arctic. He captured a moment so dynamic that there is no way it could have been organized or manipulated. And for this, I believe it has the potential to win the World Press Photo’s Spot News Award.

Denis is a highly regarded freelance photographer in his homeland of Russia. This is marked by the dismay of the country’s photo community at his detention by the Russian authorities in Murmansk. Several Russian media outlets have decided not to publish photos today in protest, or are showing black boxes instead of photos. Like Greenpeace, Denis was bearing witness to an issue that needs to be in the public domain. I, like so many others, call for his immediate release along with the crew of the Arctic Sunrise.

...on photos there published by Greenpeace International there is something loo...

A photo is key when it comes to bearing witness...

...on photos there published by Greenpeace International there is something looking like a HUGE bomb!

Sorry guys, as I said before Greenpeace is a WESTERN phenomen - you always shut be aware that there might be a commander or something who might knows Greenpeace, but i s really aware of the Greenpeace-history of NON-violent protest.

...on video-material published by Greenpeace International there was a warnshot.

Despite a warnshot, a clear sign of escalation, it does not really look like Greenpeace activists stepped back.

In 2012, according to Greenpeace Germany, there has been Metall-pieces been thrown at Greenpeace activists, including the CEO DOCTOR Naidoo hanging somehwere on a string instead of, my opinion, sitting in his Amsterdam-office reading newspapers.

Despite flying metal-pieces, a clear indication of violence being around, Greenpeace showed up again in 2013 - following media it was clear Russia would not accept any protest.

All this is about power, and people like Putin being aware they are sitting on some nice bomb ready to be lighted as soon as there is the slightest protest allowed.

Do you know what, to me is the worst about your kindergarten-games in the Arctic?

We are all aware of the league Putin is playing in! Who is not, just look at Syria where him and Assad are playing sick games...

...the worst is that you prepared the stage for Putin to apear generous. Of course sooner or later he will let you nice activists go, well prepared in the media.

And Greenpeace has to be grateful to somone operating close to mass-murder in Syria right now.

Thanks, excellent job...and don't forget the photos showing a 'bomb'...and a warnshot...shit, what a bunch of idiots sinking a rainbow.

Sun Wu, godfather of the Rainbow Warrior III

and Greenpeace has been a leading organization in visuals for over forty years

So what the fuck are you doing to save this planet? sitting at your comfy pc, shitstorming NGOs, giving yourself stupid names? ive got no respect for ...

So what the fuck are you doing to save this planet? sitting at your comfy pc, shitstorming NGOs, giving yourself stupid names? ive got no respect for people like you, if you want to change things, go change them. if you dont agree with the way others try, do it your own way. but what youre doing is just simply disrespecting efforts people make because they think its rightous and good, even though you might disagree. good luck with your efforts mister sun warrior

Violence from one side does not obligate peaceful activists to back down. The activists chose to take risks with their own safety, and stayed calm and peaceful even when warning shots were fired. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

The activists did put their hands up, and at one point backed their boats away. (There's video of this around.)

The boarding of the Arctic Sunrise by Russia security forced didn't happen until the next day. In the time in between, the ship and activists never went closer than 3 miles from the oil rig.

You have not seen any video what happened ??? These people were doing their WORK........... not like your Greenpiss junkies who just wanted to have an adrenalin kick !!!
Be happy about the fact they only shot into water.............and not killed some of these eco-terrorists........ :-)

STOP you jammer and lamentation and face justice in Court in Murmansk !!!

In the name of the people of Zimbabwe, and on behalf of my friend Tuuts:

WAKE UP!!! Our fragile earth needs a voice!

And not a Kindergarten...stop turning around, you fucked up big time.

Sun Wu, godfather of the RAinbow Warrior III

PS: Andrew, I never said Greenpeace couldn't attack something like Gazprom, or Putin...you simply need to know what you do, have to be good.

You guys got that Rosneft, in certain circles, is refered to as PUTIN-OIL...and that BP is holding something like 20% of PUTIN-OIL, correct?

BP is the weak point...there is a red line to be drawn from the gulf of Mexico via Syria to Russian Arctic.

You claim Greenpeace to be a leading organization in visuals for over forty years.

Proof it!!! This red line in a single image - it used to be Greenpeace...and stop your multi-cultural adventures, BP will not be attacked in Russia

PPS: and just in case you are still not aware of who you are dealing with:

The MV Laodicea ex Beluga Enterprise seems to be a liner serving the route between Ukraine and Syria for something like 2 years now.

http://marinetraffic.com/ais/de/shipdetails.aspx?IMO=9274343

Do me a favor, follow the MV Laodicea, by the way, this Ukrainian port is the biggest port for weapons worldwide, and whatever the MV Laodicea is transporting - according to media Syria is NOT paying for it!

Shit, if you want to attack Putin...do it the right way so we can start to fight global heating (heating for Rex, the reptile :)

Hey Andrew, ...and thanks. ...and I've got my fingers crossed and hoping too, ...but I wouldn't count on it. What a wonderful world it would be if we could only all work together. I'm just hoping for a massive public outcry of response to Putin and the Russian government. Heroes of Love and light they are, not criminals, and need to come home.